Participant sheet
The vow, an everyday practice, and the boundaries a participant should be able to expect.
Resources
The promise,
put into practice.
Read, print, and think with these materials. The operating guides are proposals for an adult pilot. No gathering or official chapter is created by using them.
Host guide
Preparation, a 75-minute first gathering, the proposed pilot calendar, and a feedback notice to complete before use.
Founding charter
The proposed purpose, voluntary vow, six pillars, conduct rules, and approach to accountability and repair.
Evaluation plan
A modest way to learn whether the pilot is useful, with optional feedback and minimal collection of information.
Learning from
work already underway.
Listening and civic bridge-building have a substantial history. Kin Vow is an untested proposal. These links offer context, not endorsement or a claim that our approach works.
A 2024 study found that several brief interventions, including humanizing people across political differences, reduced partisan animosity. A 2025 review and experiments found that many such effects were modest and faded quickly. We should test useful behavior and its limits directly.
- Science: testing 25 approaches to partisan animosity and antidemocratic attitudes
- PNAS: why lasting depolarization is difficult
- Braver Angels workshops
- The Listen First pledge
These organizations are not Kin Vow partners. Their materials have their own terms of use.